About John Conroe

John Conroe was raised in Saint Lawrence County, New York, a few heartbeats away from the Canadian border at the very top of the state. It is a wild and rural place where most rivers run south to north and the inhabitants all sound vaguely like their national flag should feature a massive red maple leaf instead of stars and stripes.

The youngest of four children, and therefore theoretically expendable, he was placed in an experimental elementary school used by SUNY Potsdam education students as a laboratory for new teaching techniques. There is absolutely no evidence that the school produced any extraordinary, super power laden individuals. In fact, Conroe himself is evidence of just the opposite. When given the choice between learning to read with a new technique or playing with awesome toys, Conroe chose the toys every time. The results were duly noted in various college papers with strong warnings for future subjects.

His mother, a Summa Cum Laude Middlebury graduate, was less than impressed. Play time was curtailed, forced readings ensued, and in a few short weeks the slow learner took to fiction of all shapes and sizes, but mostly Sci-Fi. From that point forward it’s important to note that when given a choice between reading and doing chores, the reading won. Conroe’s parents eventually learned to deal with being less than impressed.

Influenced by the likes of Edgar Rice Burroughs, Robert Heinlein, JRR Tolkien, Jack London, Andre Norton, Robert E. Howard, H. Beam Piper, and Anne McCaffrey, young Conroe was drawn in almost equal parts to the rugged wilds of the Adirondacks and the Clarkson College bookstore.

Outdoor adventures were provided by a retired Marine with a doctorate in physics and the title of Scoutmaster, who thought little of taking teenage boys backpacking in below-zero Adirondack winters or leading two-week long canoe trips across 120 miles of Canadian wilderness. Reading adventures were supplied by the aforementioned bookstore and the Potsdam Public Library.

Somewhere along the way, his parents suggested he explore the arts… he thought they meant martial arts. He has since been a lifelong dabbler in Tae Kwon Do, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, Krav Maga and Escrima. He still cannot sing or play a note.

After graduating from high school, Conroe attended SUNY Cortland where he almost failed out in his freshman year because he chose playing Dungeons & Dragons over attending inconsequential things like class.

Once again, the parents were less than impressed.

Against all expectations he graduated on schedule with a BS in Economics and Management Science and entered the world of banking, mostly because he was interested in the theory that money could earn money and he could finally relax and read. He met his future wife when he gave her a car loan. There is little doubt he got the better part of that deal. After thirty something years of banking and financial planning, he feels vampires and werewolves are probably less dangerous than Wall Street.

Thousands of books consumed later, Conroe entered his mid-life. With a crisis in full bloom, he realized a sporty convertible would be less than worthless in an upstate winter, and his wife firmly said no to the idea of a mistress. She was not impressed. Conroe wrote his first complete book shortly thereafter. It was crap and will remain forever buried in the compost pile… but it showed that he could do it. The Demon Accords were born with the next book, God Touched, a novel that proved vampires didn’t need to be either sparkly or male to totally rock. With sixteen books in the series, Conroe is currently writing number seventeen while simultaneously starting a new science fiction series, Zone War. His eleventh book in the Demon Accords, Snake Eyes, was nominated for a 2018 Audie Award for fantasy.

Operating out of an undisclosed location in upstate New York, Conroe is preparing to wrap up his financial career to pursue writing urban fantasy and science fiction full time. His fans will be excited to know that his wife has commissioned a new writing desk – complete with leg chains.

He wishes to thank all of his fans for their kindness and loyalty. Extraordinary thanks go out to his beautiful daughters and amazing wife for all their support, ideas, writing music, general understanding, and for keeping him grounded. After all, someone has to be there to remind him to take out the garbage.